Bumper arrangement for uncoupling railroad-cars



WILLIAM O. GEORGE, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

BUMPER ARRANGEMENT FOR UNCOUPLING- RAILROAD-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 15,839, dated October 7, 1856.

To all 'whom t may concern: Be it known that I, WILLIAM O. GEORGE, ofRichmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Car-Cou-` plings, &c., of whichthe following is a full.,` clear, and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings of the same, in which- Figure lrepresents a side elevation of the platform of a locomotive, tender, andcar having my improvements applied thereto, and Fig. 2 a plan oftheunder side of the same. i

In many if not all cases of railroad accidents, which have resulted inthe loss of so many valuable lives, and destruction of property to anenormous amount, it is a well ascertained fact that if suitable meansfor detaching one car from another when in rapid motion had beenprovided, the catastrophe would have been to a considerable extentprevented. These accidents arise from various causes, of which not a feware occasioned by the breakingof va wheel, or by the engine being thrownfrom the track, by com ing in contact with cattle crossing the rails orother obstructions upon them, dragging the train after it, `andrendering the whole one vast wreck. Whereas had the proper facilitiesbeen attached to the cars, they could have been instantly detached fromthe tender," and have passed along the road without further accident.But as `the obstruction may not have been entirely removed from thetrack when struck by the engine but only partially so, the probabilityis that it would be, when again struck by the forward car, which in alllikelihood would also` be thrown from the track, involving the necessityofV the succeeding car being instantaneously detached from it, toprevent it from dragging the others with it, and so on with all theothers in succession, so as to give some one of them a chance to besaved from inevitable destruction. From these facts it will be apparentthat it is' of vitallimportance so to construct the couplings thatevery" car in the rear of any particular one p may be made capable ofbeing simultaneously detached from each other bythe simple act ofuncoupling that one.

To provide such means is Ithe object of my invention, which consists inso arranging and supporting a rod under and running lengthwise of eachcar, that the hinder end 1 (B); mounted a lever or crank wheel (E), bythe of every one shall when operated strike against the forward end ofthe rod in thesucceeding car, causing it to withdraw the bolt thatconnects the cars together. By this means the engineer may inthe eventof danger uncouple every car in the train from each other, thuspresent-inga chance to some if not to all the cars to pass along theroad .uninjured,should the engine happen to be thrown from the track.The same effect being produced upon all the cars in the rear of anyparticular one which should happen to be operated upon in that manner.-

To enable others skilled in the art to make, construct and use myinvention I will now proceed to describe its parts more particularly. i

A represents the bottom frame or platform of the engine, A the tender,and A2 a` car the latter two of which are connected together by means ofmy improved coupling, and B the` framework of each, to the side beams ofwhich are secured the `bearings (C), in which the wheels (F) aremounted, and upon which the cars are supported and run.

Through mortises in the cross beams of the frame of each car are passeda series of rods (R) in a line with each other; conn mencing with oneextending from about midway of the engine (A), backward until its .rearend rests against the forward end of i runs along under its wholelength, until its rear end rests against the forward end of the onesecured tothe car (A2), and that in turn to the rod on the next car, andso on to the end ofthe train, there being one attached to every car. Tothe side and near the forward end of the rods (R) are secured a cord orchain (a) to each, by means of a staple o r eyebolt (a) the other end ofwhich is -attached to a staple (b) secured to the lower end of the crankshaft (c). Thelatter being supported in bearings (al) secured to theunderside of the cross beam of the frame On the upper end of the shaftis turning of which, the chain (a) is wound upon its shaft, causing therods (R) to move in a direction toward the rear of the cars. Toward therear end, and near the middle of the rods (R) on their inner side aresecured eyebolts or hooks (e) to which are connected one end of thechains (D), the other passing around a pulley (D2) and Secured to oneend of a pin (f) on the side of the spring bolt (I), the latter passingthrough a mortise in the coupling boX (K) and connecting link (I-I), andby which the cars are coupled to each other. Around one end of the bolt(I) is wound or coiled a spiral springV (g), having its bearingrespectively against' the side of the bracket that supports and guidesthe bolt, and pin (f), for the purpose of projecting the bolt (I) tocouple the cars, when the retracting force is removed, and also causingthe rods to assume the proper position to be again'acted upon towithdraw the bolt. The

pin f) is caused to pass clear through the bolt (I) and also through ainortise or slot in the front side of the bracket (J) to form a handle(72,) by which the bolt may be withdrawn when the cars are stationary,and

the person standing on the ground. It will now be perceived that if thecrank (E) of the engine be turned so as to wind up the chain (a), thatit will cause the butt end ofthe rod (R) to'strike against the head ofth'c corresponding rod of the tender, both of which are enlarged forthis purpose. It

s in turn, as it is pressed backstriking against the rod (R) of the car,pushing' it before it,

and dragging with it in its retrograde movement the chain (D) to whichthe spring bolt (I) is secured, withdrawing the latter from the mortisein the connecting rod (I-I), thus detaching the car (A2) from the tender(A). The rod of the car (A2) will also when pressed back as describedhave struck the head of the rod in a line with it in the succeeding car,causing it to detach that car in the saine manner as that of car (A2),and so on through the whole train of cars leaving the whole detachedfrom one another. But as it is not always desirable to detach every carin a train from each other, I provide other means for uncoupling anydesired number of cars, without detaching them from each other as incases of emergency.

Through mortises in the cross beams of the frame (B) and parallel withthe rods (R) are passed rods (L) the mortises serving to support andguide t-he heads or ends of the rods against each other. To the for-'ward end of these rods is connected a chain (i) in a similar manner tothe chains of the rods (R), the other end of the chains being attachedto the end of the crankshaft (c) as were those of the chains (a). At therear end of the rod (L) of the car (A2) and which is so made as not toextend throughout the whole lengt-h of the car, is attached one end of acord or chain (D) the other being attached to the chain (D) of the bolt(I); or instead of being directly attached to the latter, it may ifthought advisable be first passed around a sheave (n) as shown in redlines in F ig. 2. So that when the chain i is wound upon the shaft (c)by the crank or lever wheel (E) of the car (A2), the rod will be drawnbackward, dragging the chain D to which the spring bolt is connected asbefore described along with it; in this way withdrawing the bolt fromthe coupling bar (H), thus detaching the car from the tender, withoutuncoupling those in the rear as would have been the case, had the rod(L) of each car extended throughout their whole length. Each car beingprovided with this apparatus will it will readily be perceived, enablethe conductor to detach any number of cars from the train, without theythemselves being separated from each other.

As it is desirable that the engineer should be able to separate theengine and tender from the cars without being under the necessity ofgoing to the car (A2) or waiting for the conductor or brakeman to effectit, the rod L of the tender is extended throughout its whole length, soas to bear against the corresponding rod of the car (A2) whereby byturning the crank (E) of the engine so as to wind up the chain the rod(L) of the tender will be carried as it is struck by that of the engineto bear against the corresponding rod of the car (A2) pushing itbackward, whereby the bolt (I) is withdrawn from the connecting bar (II)and the car detached from the tender.

Through the end of the rods (R and L) of the engine are passed pins (y)to prevent them from moving beyond a certain distance, there beingothers for the same purpose through both ends of the remaining rods (Rand L) on the inner side ofthe cross beams.

f Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is- The arrangement of sliding rodsrunning longitudinally beneath the platforms of i railroad cars soconnected with the coupling carsif desired, substantially in the mannerherein set forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand, in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

W. O. GEORGE.

Attest:` v

J No. G. SUBLETT, Giio. W. SUBLETT.

